


After Neibolt

by pumpkinisland



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, M/M, eddie dies and richie has to deal w it, myra mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28063941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pumpkinisland/pseuds/pumpkinisland
Summary: Eddie dies. There's no doubt about that.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier





	After Neibolt

Eddie dies.

There's no doubt about that. He was stabbed in the chest, he bled out in Richie's arms, and he was left behind as Neibolt collapsed. He's dead.

Richie still waits in front of the wreckage and hopes that Eddie will pop up, good as new and calling him a dickwad for leaving him behind.

It's dark outside when the other losers find him and coax him back to the hotel.

They all agree to stay an extra week in Derry, which is spent helping Mike pack for Florida and Bev get ready for a new life with Ben. They make a losers group chat and promise to talk in it every day, Richie promises to be the perfect cockblock and spam his ridiculous selfies. They all hug before they go their separate ways, and Richie holds on tight to each and every one of them.

He drives back to Los Angeles with Eddie's luggage on the passenger seat.

He couldn't just leave it there for a worker to throw away, but he knew taking it wasn't the greatest idea either. Eddie's phone rings, and from where Richie placed it on top of all the bags he sees the name 'Myra' pop up on the screen, his stomach drops.

He lets it go to voicemail and he drives a little faster.

The first night back home Richie doesn't sleep well, his mind is stuck on the bags piled in his living room. He can't bring himself to open them, and he knows he shouldn't. Eddie was never allowed any privacy in life and Richie thinks he should at least have that in death. So he leaves them there, but he does catch himself staring at them from time to time. Their presence looms over him more than that stupid clown ever did.

Richie decides to throw himself into his work, so he hosts a charity event where all the proceeds go to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. He talks about his friends, of course he does, but he mostly talks about Stan. He monologues about how much he misses Stan and how he wishes he could still talk to him. He tells the story of Stan's bar mitzvah and how brave the other boy was in that moment, he hopes everyone doesn't notice the tears in his eyes.

After a lot of sleepless nights spent thinking, Richie comes to the painful conclusion that he has to move on. He can't spend his entire life hung up on his childhood crush, who was straight and married, and who never even showed any sign of reciprocating. He works up the courage to send Eddie's bags to New York, to the address carefully printed on each luggage tag, along with a letter to Myra about what happened. He tells her Eddie died from being stabbed by their childhood bully, so in a way it's not a lie. He watches the worker at the post office take the bags away and suddenly, Richie feels lighter than he has in weeks.

Before he drives home he asks the other losers if he should try signing up for dating apps, he gets a resounding yes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope y'all like it!
> 
> tumblr: strawberrysocial


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